Out of town for a week for a wedding. Came back today and went out to the farm to check on my fig plants. I was pleasantly surprised to find two perfectly ripe figs on a two gal Sal's EL. (About 10 left on it) No splitting at all. I really could not ask for two more perfect figs. You could have spread them on toast with a butter knife! And the taste, I simply could not imagine a better taste.

A little background. This is my first year growing and selling fig trees. I have about 50 varieties, have about100 plants in two gallon containers, 24 in twenty five gal and about 150 in ones. (have already sold 150 one gal) All the one gal and two gal plants have been rooted since the first of the year. I would say that fully half my two gal are just loaded with figs, which seem to be developing normally.

Soil mix is half pro mix HP and half rotted hardwood bark. Fertilizer is Osmocote. The plants are watered overhead 4 time per day for 10 min each time The system has a rain switch.

• I was not expecting such great figs off a current year rooted cutting.

• I was expecting that the amount of water being applied would dilute taste/sweetness and/or cause fruit splitting. Non of which occurred.

• Observation is that the young fruiting trees were not rooted from tip cuttings, but from older wood.

• Pinched all plants after 6-10 leaves. Some had set fruit before pinching.

• Plant growth varies by variety, but is easily 24”-36”.

• The plants are not badly root-bound but are fast getting that way. I am wondering if the old saw about root-bound plants setting more fruit might have some validity.

Since much of what I think I know came from this forum and since some of what I am doing and what is happening is against conventional wisdom, I would appreciate analysis and comments.

Several my cuttings rooted from thicker older pieces this winter also have fruit. I also have a few 2-3 feet tall from first year growth.

It is the humidity and its relation to transpiration that causes splitting, at least sometimes, in my yard. Figs need to transpire in order to ripen, high humidity slows transpiration and excess water builds in the fruits, causing fruit swelling to full size to split and ripening fruits to become watery. Weather has much more of an affect on the fruit than the age of the tree, provided the tree is large enough to produce figs.

So even figs grown in a covered pot to keep rain water out may still split due to high humidity?

4bgood,
Congratulation! Almost half of my this year rooted cuttings have the little figlets. I think given enough sun and fertilizer, it is not a rare event.
But always welcomed :)

David, they still split and get watery inside the greenhouse when it rains, no extra water needed. I think it is actually the dramatic change in humidity from rain that causes it, because figs adapt the physiology of their fruits to their environments.

Thanks for the info. This whole time I thought it was the water taken up by the roots when it rained heavily/constantly that caused the figs to split. Oops!